First timer to US/HHN - have a few questions.

[Disneyliscious]

Hello there,

First timer to Universal Studios and also to the Halloween Horror Nights. I'm a Disney fan at heart but we want to try HHN this year. I've been doing a lot of research and would like to know if my plan seems do-able for what we want to do.

Since we have never been to the park, we plan to buy a regular park day ticket too. We dont expect to see the whole park but dont want to waste precious HHN minutes riding normal rides.

Our date is Wednesday October 21st.

So....buy regular day park ticket and enjoy a few rides. About 4pm we'll go to eat in one of the Holding Areas that offers food (Fennigans or Springfield, USA). I'd prefer Springfield USA because of the food/seating choices but it appears there are no reservations you can make there. Does this Holding Area get overly crowded? We plan to eat/rest for about 2 hours here and then be ready to leave the holding area at 5:45 to (hopefully) make it through one haunted house and get in line for the next before the general admission HHN folks reach the area. We -do- plan to purchase the FOL passes and stay late. Does this sound like to long of a day to try and pull off? We will be going at a leisurely pace.

Edit: Also, we are thinking about doing the Dining Plan with free refills on Coke. One meal would prob cost $15 for a burger and drink. Then we get a snack so thats easily $20 of the $26 DP price. If we just got 2 refills it pays for itself but I know we'd drink much more being there all day. It seems like a no brainer to me unless I'm missing something?

Thanks for any tips!

 

[Disneyliscious]

67 views and not a single person could offer any help.

 

[DOOM1001]

Your plan sounds about right,I always stay in the street by Finnegan's for Stay and Scream so I don't know how busy Springfield gets.I usually get pizza at Louie's around 4:30 and then head over to the holding area after 5pm.Eating at Finnegan's at this time is usually not the best idea as it gets insanely crowded.I know when HHN opens up for the Stay and Scream around 6pm they only have like 2 houses open right away as the others ones open like at 6:30 and the Finnegan's location is closer to the soundstage houses that open at 6pm.Again I have no experience in other holding areas so I'm not sure if the houses by Springfield and MIB open at 6pm,maybe you can eat at Springfield and then head to the Finnegan's holding area.I never buy express tickets and have always been able to do every house by staying in the holding area and not going on the busiest days.This year however will have 9 houses,one more than the most they've ever had,9 houses and two shows will make it harder to get everything done but I'm cheap and if I apply myself I can get through all of them without express tix,but if you're going with express tickets you should be solid.If this is your first time doing it then you definitely want to do it right so buy the tickets,I've done like 20 of the 24 HHN years and have had AP's for like 16 years so riding the regular rides is not a priority.Maybe you can do all the houses with time left over to do a ride or two you couldn't hit during the day.

 

[DisneyLandMan]

I cant help you with the dining plan, but as far as HHN.....all the holding areas get a little crowded. Ive been 3 times now and seating is usually limited. But alcohol is supplied in fun souvenir cups so it makes the time fly by!! Back on subject, I have always done HHN in late September withOUT having the express pass and we always get every house done and sometimes even do 1 or 2 houses a second time and that includes going through all the scare zones, but not seeing either of the shows. (I still have never done any of the HHN shows.) If you plan to purchase the express pass, you can fly through the houses in about 2 or 3 hours at a leisurely pace with no problem. And that late in October, Wednesday will probably be your best bet.

 

[DOOM1001]

I always make sure to see the Bill and Ted show,it's super cheesy but it's like a HHN tradition.It's like a 25 year old movie and the show's been at HHN since 1992 and every year they spoof everything that's happening that year,it's never great but always a must do.Last year they also had the Rocky Horror Picture show tribute for like they 3rd or 4th year,I saw it two years and skipped it last year.Also don't just assume a Wednesday will have low crowds,I remember one year I went on a particular Wednesday of October and people on these boards reminded me it was something called Hell Week,which I'm still not 100% what it was but I believe it has to do with the schools having some extra days off.The key is always to get as many houses done early before the crowds get bad,I usually do non peak nights but the last two years have gone on peak nights and even then as long as you're there for Stay and Scream and don't mess around by getting houses done early you can do them all even without express.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Thank you all very much for sharing your experiences. I found them all to be helpful. Hopefully we won't wear ourselves out by going to the reg park during the day so we can ride a few of the rides and then be too tired to enjoy HHN. I've got park maps printed off so I can try to map us out a touring plan. Almost every review I've read talks about insane crowds and 2 to 4 hour lines at each haunted house. Thats what prompted my decision to purchase FOTL Pass. And since we are going the 3rd week in October I figure it will be more busy.

Hell Week is, I believe, the term used to describe the week leading up to Halloween. Ironically, Ive ready many reviews that say Halloween Night is a very low crowd night.

 

[tink1957]

Hell week is the week of Columbus day which is a school break in a lot of areas so it gets extremely busy during that time.

 

[DisneyLandMan]

Typically, as the day goes on, Universal Studios clears out. Last year we headed back into the park around 230 and we rode Transformers, Mummy, Simpsons and MiB with no more than about 10 minute wait time on each. This is just me guessing, but since the park closes early that day, some people avoid it and head to IoA instead. I have never been in the park at opening on an HHN night though, so I can not say for sure how packed the park is early on in the day.

 

[macraven]

hell week is in mid october, not during the columbus day period

dis landman, i see that happen on weekdays but not necessarily on the weekends.
peeps come in the afternoon on sat/sun to hit rides, eat , etc.
then they stay in the park and wait in the stay and scream holding areas.

this can increase the line waits for rides.
i find that saturday carries more of the crowds in the afternoon around 2-3 usually.